Don't Let Your Martial Arts Training Lack Self Defense Practicality

Martial artists train for years to perform complex movements that are powerful and beautiful. And most of these martial artists are lucky, because they'll never need to use these techniques when it counts most. But for those few who have needed to use their training for self defense have found, there is often little translation, at least technically, between martial arts training and self defense training.

The main reason for this is that when our bodies are under extreme stress, our autonomic nervous system puts our body in a unique and powerful state called the fight or flight response. This is a natural self defense mechanism that empowers the body to fight or flee a situation. It augments speed, strength, and reduces ones susceptibility to pain. But it also creates tension in the body which reduces one's capacity to perform fine and complex motor movements, movements which are, for most martial artists, a cornerstone of training.

What is enhanced however are gross motor movements, movements which rely on compound body movements like pushing, pulling, lifting, and squatting. These most basic of body movements become stronger and faster, but they also become less easy to control. So if one is practicing martial arts with a focus on self defense application, they consider reducing the vast majority of their technique training to acknowledge this natural response, techniques which capitalize on the body's ability to make gross movements more powerful.

Techniques which adhere to this principle are very basic, so basic in fact that they could be learned in a single night. And that's the point. Those things which work under extreme stress are those things which we are capable of doing with no prior training. These are, to reduce them to their most basic form, linear and circular strikes. They should also be techniques which inhibit your opponent's ability to function well. They should attack the eyes, the groin, the windpipe, the carotid artery on the side of the neck, and the ears, which house a person's balance.

The single best way to train these techniques is in full contact fashion. But since these are all techniques which target vital targets on an opponent, it doesn't make for safe training. So they should be trained on focus pads with someone capable of feeding the trainee the correct techniques at the correct angles. The trainee should not hold back, but get in the habit of committing to every movement. They should also train to block hard incoming swings and strikes with those pads to become desensitized to the sting and shock of impact.

Combining this power blocking with power striking will develop strong reflexive blocking and counter striking. It will prepare the trainee to keep composure under extreme stress, and to fight until finished. These are all essential skills in self defense. Good training to you!